Edward Taylor, whose poems include "Huswifery," "Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children," and "Upon a Spider Catching a Fly," is perhaps the most similar poet to Bradstreet. Taylor was also a Puritan who lived in the American colonies, and his poems contain very similar themes. Though writing a century after Bradstreet, the poet Phyllis Wheatley—an emancipated slave originally from West Africa—is another notable female poet of the American colonies. Her poems include "To the King's Most Excellent Majesty," and "On being brought from Africa to America," among others.
Students may gain further insight into Bradstreet's Puritan themes by reading the sermons of famous Puritan preachers, such...